Shikutse Community 4

Springs are water sources that come from deep underground, where the water is filtered through natural layers until it is clean enough to drink. Once the water pushes through the surface of the Earth, however, outside elements like waste and runoff can contaminate the water quickly. We protect spring sources from contamination with a simple waterproof cement structure surrounding layers of clay, stone, and soil. This construction channels the spring’s water through a discharge pipe, making water collection easier, faster, and cleaner. Each spring protection also includes a chlorine dispenser at the waterpoint so community members can be assured that the water they are drinking is entirely safe.

Learn more about how spring protection works here!

Rehabilitation is not just fixing a pump - it’s total community re-engagement.

There’s only one thing we can think of that might be worse than not having safe water: having safe water, and then losing it because a project fell into disrepair.

Rehabilitation often proves to be a big challenge, as many wells have sit idle for years and there is typically little information about the specifics of the well. A borehole and dug well rehabilitation involves quite a bit of discovery. First, our teams work to discover as much as they can about the initial project. What materials were used? Was the borehole/protected dug well properly constructed? Many of these questions can only be answered by diving in, and doing “the work” which makes up a rehabilitation.

Once our teams have found the problem, they find the solution. Then, they reconstruct the well and install a hand pump.

Engagement and training with communities takes into account rehabilitation was needed and alters the program to suit the needs of the community. After all - engaging with this community in the same way which led to the initial, failed project will not bring new results. Our teams work to understand the social and support reasons leading to initial failure, and make those areas a focus of our ongoing engagement with communities.

Water projects last because of local leaders. They help us understand the realities on the ground and carry our shared goals to their neighbors. The Water Project identifies and partners with local organizations that share our commitment to water that is reliable, verifiable, and clean. Together we build solutions that belong to the community and keep watch over them for years to come. Your partnership makes that lasting, local work possible.

The communities we serve are partners in the project, not recipients of it. Long before a single pipe is laid, we sit down with community members to build relationships, plan the project together, agree on how the water point will be managed, and prepare for the ongoing costs of keeping it running. The people who will use the water hold a leading seat at the table. Every project takes real collaboration among many stakeholders, and at each step we hold to the values your partnership makes possible: reliability, relationship, and trust.

At every spring protection project, we install a specially engineered chlorine dispenser right at the water point, so families can treat their water with a pre-measured, safe dose in seconds. Diluted chlorine is a trusted part of water treatment worldwide, and it keeps working for two to three days, so water stays safe even after it is carried home and stored. We provide the chlorine and maintain the dispensers as part of our ongoing support, so your partnership keeps protecting health well beyond installation day.

For many communities, water is only the beginning. When every drop has to be rationed, the things that keep people healthy, like bathing, cleaning, and handwashing, fall away, and where school was out of reach, the basics usually taught in health class were never learned. Water alone can't solve this, which is why your gift also funds hands-on training in every community, school, and health center we serve. We tailor each session to the region, but always cover the essentials: safe water handling and storage, personal and environmental hygiene, how disease spreads, how to form and run a water user committee, and how to operate and maintain the new water point. The goal is simple: to put people back in charge of their own health, so growth and development can begin.

Across sub-Saharan Africa, too many wells fall into disrepair and are left behind. Reliability is the true measure of our work, so our commitment does not end when a project is finished. Water can only improve a life if it is there every time, and it can take only one sip of unsafe water to undo months of good health. That is why we measure downtime in hours, not days or weeks, and why every hour a water point is down matters. We monitor every project we have completed to keep the water running. Many donors sustain this work through The Water Promise, a community of monthly partners who keep water flowing long after installation day.

Learn more about The Water Promise.

Project Status

We’re working hard to make sure your gifts result in a lasting water project for the community it serves. Our engagement with a community begins many months before construction and lasts years after construction. The timeline here is focused on the physical construction of the water project. There is also training and engagement work that has already started.

Water project construction in the developing world is hard work. A lot of things can and do cause delays - which are normal. We attempt to make our best judgment of when construction will be complete, but the circumstances surrounding actual "in the field" conditions are far from our control.

Weather, supply availability, government paperwork, and progress of community involvement are just a few of the variables that can delay (and sometimes speed up) a project's completion.

We will always tell you if anything changes. And, if you get a notice like this – it’s actually further proof your gifts are being carefully used towards a water project that lasts.